El gran Gatsby

OK, when I read this book, I hated the Gatsby Story. But I loved that Fitzgerald made me feel like I was in New York in the summer of 1922- the heat, the droning of fans, the smells, the ashes...

Knowing that I didn't care for the story, THAT was what I wanted, to feel like I was there. I wanted to see 1922 New York, to be a part of a party in the Roaring 20's, to sweat with the characters, to feel the wind in my face during a ride in an open 20's era car...

It almost did it for me... except the music. The pounding bass and the rap just ruined it for me. I wanted some amazing jazz. I wanted a real Roaring 20's party. The Rhapsody in Blue was cool, but I was already disappointed.

The cast was great and the acting superb.

Leonardo was impressive, maybe one of his best roles. Mulligan, breath-taking, she looked like an angel. Toby McGuire was a great choice for Carraway- who else could pull off an awkward mixture of likable guy, wallflower, and main character? They did a great job of sticking to the plot and emphasizing famous lines of the book.

Overall, everything was done really well... but why couldn't we get era-appropriate music?

Only a poor soundtrack filled with contemporary music spoiled this latest version of The Great Gatsby for me. In a tradition of blond Gatsbys, Leonardo DiCaprio steps into the shoes of Alan Ladd and Robert Redford in essaying the part of the social climbing bootlegger from the Roaring Twenties. All that will make Jay Gatsby's life complete is the love of Daisy Buchanan whom he courted before his service in World War I. The problem is that she's slightly married to upper class Tom Buchanan. Daisy is played by Carey Mulligan and Buchanan is played by Australian player Joel Edgerton.

In fact except for DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway the whole cast is mostly Australian which is to be expected since most of the production was shot there. I have to say that the Australian studio did a marvelous job in recreating New York of the Twenties and the ritzy and glamorous part of Long Island where most of the story takes place.

As the book is written in the person of Nick Carraway it was also a good move to have Maguire narrate the story. Tobey's narration gives us the background of the story and Carraway's character functions as he should.

Leonardo DiCaprio does a wonderful job playing the social climbing Gatsby who weaves his own legend as he gives fabled parties on Long Island where the illegal liquor flows freely. Beneath his self assurance there is a bit of a frightened edge like this is all going to be taken away from him so enjoy while you can.

Perhaps the producers thought that no one would see a film with old music in it. There is some there, Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue comes to mind. But the contemporary music on the soundtrack is jarring and out of place.

But overall this is a good telling of F. Scott Fitzgerald's tale of the Roaring Twenties.

I like Luhrmann's take on films and soundtracks usually - but this film's strange annoying choice of music style was really off-putting. It was so mismatched like they were trying to MTV it with advertising Coke or something mainstream. Shame, would be great to see this with a soundtrack that suits the style of the storytelling/theme.

The sound director of this movie should never find work again.

The use of modern music (rap, EDM, etc.) that sounds nothing like the Roaring '20s is jarring. It rips you from the story, and it's hard to get back into it afterward. In some scenes, it's like watching a parody because the mismatch is flat-out laughable. Using era music for an era piece would've added a lot of character to the movie. And this movie, which I otherwise loved, deserved better.

Don't get me wrong; I do like those songs, and I get why the soundtrack was a hit. They just shouldn't have crashed a movie that's set in the 1920s. The distraction they caused did nothing but damage -- lots of it.